Caryolyn Eckrich
by Olive Hills
Summary: Caryolyn Eckrich is a Watcher, a select group of commeners trained to be knights, traveling all over the realm picking up as much trouble as they can find. Now Caryolyn has found herself in the middle of a mess centurys in the making. Rated for safty
1. The Watchers

Carolyn Eckrich

A/n: This is my first fanfic allthough I have been reading it for years I never brought myself up to write it, Thank you!

Disclamer: everything you reconize from the Tamora Piece books are hers everything else is mine.

Chapter One: The Watchers

A young woman about the age of 17 riding hard on an abnormally tall gray mare sped thought the woods. Her blond shoulder length hair tied up in a low pony tail. She had sensitive hazel eyes outlined perfectly with blond eye brows. Her lips lacked exact lines but they suited her just fine. With her pale skin, her small nose and cheeks were speckled lightly with freckles. Even though she was a girl she was wearing men's clothing, cotton pale brown breeches a white shirt with a green tunic on top. She was tall for her age, about five foot eleven to be exact she was skinny too, even thought she should have shown more muscle she was part of the Watchers.

The Watchers were a select group of commoners trained to be a knight but never actually knighted because only a noble could be a knight, but they were not ground soldiers. They were spies in a way, traveling all over the realm finding trouble and notifying the king or fixing it by themselves. The king choose commoners for stealth, knowing no one would pay attention to commoners but if a noble was involved everyone would end up knowing. Surprisingly the king even took girls. So Carolyn Eckrich upon being asked immediately signed up.

Carolyn cringed as she started to hear the terrible sounds out in the distance, sounds that no matter how many times she heard them she shuddered. Battle cries, death shrieks, screams of pain, and victory even from the horses. The grinding of meddle screeching across armor, swords hitting swords. The sounds of a battle to come. She raced on, as the sounds growing louder. Soon she started to smell the all too familiar smell, of blood and death. She could just see through the trees a light getting closer, she readied herself making sure her spear was in hand and her sword was draped across her hip. Ducking for a branch she sprang right though the light into a clearing, into the chaos of battle.

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Drawing her spear up, she drove it though an enemy surveying the area. She too scanned the scene but only for a second. It was a fairly large bandit camp, and they put up a pretty good fight, for bandits at least. The clearing was large too. From the looks of it each side was evenly matched, each side taking its share of gains and losses, but isn't that what a battle is? A tall muscular man charged stupidly at her, his sword in both hands raised high above his head. 

"Pathetic." She muttered under her breath as she drove her spear through his heart. She tugged on her spear trying to free it. Two men started to charge at her both had swords and looked like much better fighters than the man that her spear was caught in. Pulling out her sword she ditched the spear and blocked on mans blow. Suddenly she was pulled off her horse, cursing as she remembered the seconded man she rolled on the ground and jumped back up. She blocked on mans blow then tried to stab another, only to be blocked. They both came at her at once blocking the one that could have been deadly she felt the other one rake her skin cutting deeply into her side. The man that she blocked suddenly fell dead showing a throwing dagger in the back of his throat. Quickly stabbing the man that hurt her, Carolyn looked up. By the time she got there the battle was almost over now the Tortallians were taking prisoners. Mounting her horse Naomi, she saw a bandit bolting for the woods trying to escape. Tugging on the reins she ran over to him.

"You better not move or your death will be the most painful one I can think of." She threatened while pressing her sword to his throat. In the corner of her eye see saw another watcher, a friend of hers actually was running up to help.

"I'll take care of him; just make sure you talk to me before we leave. You better get that looked at." She said nodding to the cut on Carolyn's side. Directing her attention to the bandit "You behave, what ever threat she said goes for me to." Pressing a dagger to his throat she purposely pressed it just enough to draw a little blood. "Move!" winking at Carolyn she walked the man to where they were rounding up the bandits lucky enough to survive.

Her name was Sage, she never knew her parents or her family the only life she ever remembers was one of a thief. She was one of the best but Sage captured at the age of 14 claimed that a new person to the streets fell asleep on the job. After she was trialed they gave her a choice, the cages or to be part of the watchers. She refused to betray her fellow gang members by helping stop them. Somehow she ended up here; no one really knows what changed her mind or whether it was forced it just happened. Now she was 19 years old, short wavy brown hair, big brown eyes that seemed to go on forever, medium sized nose, white skin color with a little bit of sun, and perfect lips. Out of 54 people that started out the program, 37 finished 4 of those 37 people were girls; Sage was Carolyn's best friend.

Thinking about what Sage said Carolyn looked down at the cut on her side, it didn't look good, turning her head up she say the healers tent being put up. Gently pushing Naomi on she headed for it, blood loss dizziness started to kick in. It seemed like forever till she reached the tent, someone helped her get off Naomi and she collapsed by what she hoped to be a healers spell.

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We all want people to reveiw but we never do it ourselves, maybe if we all reveiwed we would all get reveiwed back so please reveiw!!


	2. Old Friends

Carolyn Eckrich

Olive Hills

Disclaimer: The land of Tortall is Tamora Pierces all the charecters are mine.

Chapter 2, Old Friends

Slowly Carolyn opened her eyes to see the top of a tent and the sun shinning though the flaps. Sitting up her memory came back; she was in the healer's tent on a cot with all the other wounded people. She sighed and stood up, looking around to see if they brought any of her stuff in spying one of her saddle bags she grabbed it made the bed and walked out of the tent to a sun high in the sky. It was a nice day warm but not too warm sunny with clouds.

"Glad you're up sleepyhead." A voice with no emotion broke though the silence, "Why did you have to faint on me." Sage finished with the joke.

Turning Carolyn saw Sage sitting by the tent head down sharpening her many throwing knifes. Gasping in fake anger "I did not faint!" she exclaimed.

"Oh yes you did," grinning a sly smile she looked up, "rather dramatically too, right off your horse."

Glaring the kind of glare that friends only did to friends, she sighed "How long have I been asleep?"

"You are lucky only a day, any longer and I would have told the gang next time I saw them." She started picking up her knifes, "Speaking of them have you any news?"

"No I hoped you would know." Carolyn looked up wishing see them. Sage referred to her friends as gangs her old gang from the streets and her gang during training. The four of them Sage, Nikos Jamp, Jack Corman, and herself have only been in the fields for about year and a half this was the first time Carolyn had seen anyone for the gang since they started, and it seemed to be the same for Sage. "I miss them." Sighing she missed the contrast of Jacks laid back nice personality and Nikos energetic funny personality. She personally liked Nikos though she never told anyone but on the last day he kissed her. Now Carolyn did not know if she liked him. There is a difference between liking someone and that someone does not know and liking someone when that someone knows.

"Cant wait to see Nikos?" Sage interrupted her thoughts

"I don't know and how did you know I liked him."

"Me n' Jack knew all along you guys liked each other what happened?"

"_Jack and I_" Carolyn corrected even though she was trained out of her street language it came back to Sage all the time "and well, he told me how he felt right before we left for our missions, I just don't know how I feel about him anymore and we all have changed to who knows what he is-"

"-You're babbling again." Sage rudely interrupted "It doesn't matter anyway. Hay mind if I travel with you for a while?"

"Why?" Carolyn asked raising her eyebrows in a joke "are you lonely"

"No" she snapped but Carolyn knew it was true even though she doesn't want to admit it she likes human company. But, you have to choose your fights with Sage and this was not one you want to choose you will never win.

"Ok…." she said but her voice suggested she didn't agree. Sage just ditched the fight with that.

"Hay, can you leave today with that leg of yours; you lost an awful amount of blood?"

"Yes I probably can but we wont get far from this place it's already midday."

"Ya, but we are the only girls here and all the knights are stuck up rich folk. If I don't get out of here soon half the knights will taste my blade." Picking up her saddle bags she went to saddle up Humfe her horse looking over her shoulder, "Go tell who ever is in charge we are leaving!" Turning her head she walked right into a big muscular looking knight.

"You don't seem to thrilled about me little darling." He said flirting with her. Carolyn guessed Sage was putting her lovingly large thief's vocabulary to use. Sage walked away with out looking back. Her face must have been a sight because everyone seemed to move right out of her path scared of her anger the people who could hear what she was saying blushed over her curses. She hasn't changed Carolyn thought smirking to herself although it was good to see her, Carolyn hasn't seen a old trustworthy friend in forever not even her own family. Sighing she went to go tell someone that they were leaving, thanking the healers who helped her. Saddling up Naomi she caught up with Sage and left the makeshift camp. They didn't talk the entire time except when deciding who did what when they stopped for the night after dinner then quickly went to sleep planning on waking up early the next day.

Please reveiw I would like to know somone is reading this. But maybe no one is that would be depressing...


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